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LG’s official unveiling of G3 smartphone was already turning out be a mere formality and now LG Netherlands has marred whatever little surprises were left for the company to reveal.
The new LG G3 appeared briefly on the Dutch website of the company earlier today and was quickly spotted by the keen tech bloggers in the country. LG did rectify the mistake but it was too late. Some parts of the LG G3 product page are still accessible but others have been removed.
According to LG Netherlands website, LG G3 will come with a lightweight metal housing, Quad-HD display, 2GB of RAM and Snapdragon 801 processor. The smartphone also includes the previously rumoured Laser auto-focus, Smart Battery and 4G LTE.
Among the software specific features, LG G3 will pack Knock Code, a Smart Keyboard, a Google-Now like Smart Notice app, LG Health and an improved camera interface.
We will bring you others details including availability tomorrow. Till then, check out the full specifications and more press renders below.
LG G3 specifications
- Operating system: Android 4.2.2, KitKat
- Colours: Metallic Black, Silk White, Gold Shine
- Dimensions: LxWxD (mm): 146.3×74.6×9.1, 151 grams
- CPU: 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (801)
- RAM: 2GB
- Display: 5.5-inch Quad-HD, 2560x1440p
- Battery: 3000mAh
- Memory: 16GB, MicroSD card slot, up to 128 GB
- Rear Camera: 13MP rear, LED flash, 4K video recording support, Optic image stabilizer with Laser Auto Focus
- Front Camera: 2.1MP front
- Cellular: 4G LTE (900/1800/2100/2600/850), 3G (850/900/1700/1900/2100), 2G (850/900/1800/1900)
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB v2.0, HDMI via Slim Port
- Others: DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Mira Cast, FM Radio, GPS


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The 2016 Global Gaming Awards 2016 took place towards the end of September and both Microgaming and Playtech walked away with awards. The Global Gaming Awards celebrates the achievements and triumphs from both the online and offline gambling industries over the past 12 months. The first time that an award has been handed to the same winner three years in a row was the ‘Digital Product of the Year’ award and this went to Microgaming.
“Congratulations to Microgaming, one of the biggest names in the digital supply industry who has once again had a tremendous year, spearheaded by this year’s digital product of the year, Quickfire,” said the person who handed Microgaming the award, the Gambling Insider Editor Alex Hammond.
Quickfire is a non-downloadable & innovative multi-operator gaming platform can now be found at more than 400 individual gaming sites. This cutting edge platform supports Microgaming’s Casino, Poker, Bingo, Multiplayer, Mobile and Live Dealer software and it boasts a wide variety of more than 600 games with new ones arriving on almost a weekly basis.
You can find top Microgaming titles on the Quickfire platform such as Terminator 2, Game of Thrones, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Jurassic Park, Mega Moolah, Thunderstruck II, Hot as Hades, Avalon II and Jungle Jim – El Dorado, plus you can also find a diverse range of games from Microgaming’s development partner companies, some of which include Quickspin, Just For The Win, Playson, Gamevy and PariPlay, to mention just a few.
Hundreds of industry leaders were in attendance at this year’s Global Gaming Awards and the prestigious event took place at the Venetian Palazzo Congress Center, Las Vegas. A total of 60 expert judges cast their vote to decide the winners of 12 individual categories. They praised the overall impact that Quickfire had made in the digital gaming industry throughout 2016.
“This win highlights the incredible progress of Quickfire since launching in 2010. The platform has emerged as the product of choice for operators who require immediate access to the best online gaming content from Microgaming and select development partners,” said Director of Quickfire, Andrew Clucas. “It’s great to see the industry celebrate the content, flexibility and innovation of Quickfire,” added the Director.
Playtech also ended up walking away from the event with a coveted award. They won the ‘Best Digital Industry Supplier’ award for their ONE Omni-channel solution, but also for their impressive catalogue of games and the breadth of new business. “The award is recognition of our core focus for continued innovation. The past 12 months has been another record-breaking year and we are delighted to be rewarded with this highly sought after title,” said Playtech’s COO, Shimon Akad. On presenting Playtech with the award, Alex Hammond said, “Congratulations to Playtech for winning in an exceptionally competitive category and claiming the trophy this year.”

domain: news


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Yvette Cooper MP visits Larks Hill to meet Christmas card competition winner
Larks Hill Junior and Infant School had a special assembly on Friday 1st December to celebrate Oliver, a Year 3 pupil, who won the Christmas card design competition organised by Rt Hon Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford.
At the assembly, Yvette Cooper MP presented Oliver with a certificate and a prize to celebrate his winning entry.
Mrs Adams, Headteacher at Larks Hill J & I School, expressed her delight, saying “I am over the moon to learn that Oliver, one of our Year 3 pupils, has won the regional competition to design Yvette Cooper’s MP Christmas card this year.
“It is a remarkable achievement as the Christmas card will be sent to hundreds of people across our area, including the Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader.
“At Larks Hill, we strive to give our children ample opportunities to be involved with our local community and create lasting memories, and this is definitely a memory that Oliver will cherish for a long time”


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Portland hip-hop pioneer Cool Nutz has signed with California based Suburban Noize Records. Cool Nutz joins Suburban Noize alumni Saigon, Glasses Malone, Swollen Members and Slaine, as the latest artist acquisition for the label. Cool Nutz is currently working on a new studio album for release through the label in early 2013.
Cool Nutz discusses signing to Suburban Noize, his upcoming new album and the Portland hip-hop scene online at http://bit.ly/NjHvOw.
“It was easy to make the decision to sign with Suburban Noize Records, as I was already familiar with their brand, hard work ethic, and understanding of today’s industry,” said Cool Nutz. “There aren’t many independent labels in today’s music business that take an old school approach to artist development like Suburban Noize, and it’s that approach that directly equate to long term artist success. From retail placement, touring, merchandising, and overall artist marketing, Suburban Noize Records gets it.”


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These days consumers have such a wide range of payment options, you could go for weeks without ever needing to use actual cash. Between credit cards, debit cards, checks and e-wallets, printed money has almost become a thing of the past.
Slowly Going Mobile
Mobile wallets, such as Google Wallet and ISIS — the joint venture from unlikely bedfellows AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile — represent the newest way to pay. The point of a mobile wallet is to turn your cell phone or tablet — that’s the mobile part — into a payment device — the wallet part. These wallets take advantage of NFC-enabled devices and payment terminals to allow users to make in-store purchases without the need to take cash or cards out of their conventional wallets. At least, that’s the plan.
The adoption of mobile wallets has been slow in the US. The ISIS mobile wallet was first announced over two years ago, November 16, 2010, but the service just became available in October, and only in Salt Lake City, Utah and Austin, Texas.
MCX, or Merchant Customer Exchange, is another upcoming player in the mobile commerce market. This new joint venture features some of the biggest names in American retail, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target and 7-Eleven. While the service is still under development, the fact that so many big name retailers are involved makes this venture worth noting.
While mobile wallets have yet to truly catch on in North America and Europe, Japan’s NTT DOCOMO has had success with their “Osaifu-Keitai,” which literally means “Wallet Phone.” Their first mobile wallet capable phone was made available in 2004; today the technology is used by over 10 million Japanese. While Osaifu-Keitai is a registered trademark of NTT DOCOMO the term is now used in Japan to mean any phone with mobile wallet capabilities.
Sony has played a big role in this project by providing the FeliCa contactless smart card that makes the mobile magic happen. Now MasterCard has joined in as well, they will be incorporating their PayPass system into the project, which is already up and running in 41 countries.
The Digital Difference
What is a digital wallet? Digital wallets are different from mobile wallets because you do not necessarily need your phone or mobile device with you to make payments. While it’s sometimes hard to distinguish between the two types of electronic wallets, the players in this field certainly feel there are important differences. At the recent Money2020 conference in Las Vegas, there were some heated exchanges on this exact subject.
With the emergence of e-commerce and internet shopping, digital wallets, or e-wallets, have already become a staple in many households, both in the US and around the world. E-walletsH, like the one provided by Payza, allow consumers to load and store funds securely on the internet so they can make purchases without the hassle and potential risk of filling out their credit card information everywhere they shop online.
Mobile wallets also hope to play a role in the e-commerce space. Google Wallet, which launched August 1 this year, allows online sellers to create merchant accounts and process Google Wallet payments.
According to recent statistics, online commerce represents less than 10% of total commerce, but that still means billions and billions of dollars are spent online each year.
So what’s your favorite way to pay? Do you still like to use cash whenever possible, or do you prefer the advantages of credit cards with cash-back incentives and other rewards? Have you already gone digital or even mobile? Let us know. Leave a comment below or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
To learn more about e-wallets and mobile wallet, read our other articles about recent developments in the online payment industry:


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America Online AOL, -1.75% may invest up to a billion dollars to get its service accessible via a Hughes Electronics Corp. satellite, according to Business Week magazine. Earlier this week, AOL and Hughes' DirectTV announced arrangements to that are expected to make the AOL service available through TV sets. Quoting sources close to the companies, the magazine said Hughes' Network Systems unit is reportedly involved. That division's Spaceway satellite project is expected to begin broadband service to North America in three years, providing high-speed voice, video and data. Hughes has said it would consider involving investor partners to finance the estimated $1.4 billion cost of getting Spaceway off the ground.
Motley Fool: no IPO yet
Pioneer financial online publisher Motley Fool plans to pursue a course of being privately held. Chief operating officer Erik Rydholm indicated to CNET there are no plans for the venture to make a public stock offering. "Our time frame as a business is 60 years, not 60 days," he said. " We consider an IPO to be a financing event and not an exit strategy, and we don't want financing to be confused with our business goals," he said. Rydholm said in March the Fool online services had 1.5 million visitors, a 50 percent gain from January's 1 million. "We want to make sure we have all the pieces in place to build a company that will thrive in the public market," Rydholm told CNET.
Ebay EBAY, +0.59% to service wireless users
EBay EBAY, +0.59% and SkyTel Communications Inc. skyt said they'll create a wireless person-to-person online trading service to allow EBay users to receive auction updates and participate in auctions via wireless devices, including pagers, cell phones and personal digital assistants. Buyers would be notified when they have been outbid or won an auction. Sellers would also be alerted when their items have sold. The auction alert service will be launched by July, the companies said.
Media Metrix mmxi adds local market ratings coverage
Media Metrix mmxi said it has nearly tripled the number of local markets it measures, increasing from 14 to 38. The company also released information about the most popular Web domains in various local markets. For instance, in Washington, DC, the service said Washingtonpost.com is the top site, reaching 29.3 percent of Internet users in the market area. In Atlanta, Accessatlanta.com is number one with 22.3 percent. The Media Metrix local service is used by advertisers to support local ad sales.
Frequent traveler Web portal from SkyMall skym
SkyMall Inc. [ s: skym] announced a new travel Web site targeted to frequent flyers. The announcement was made at the Jupiter Travel Conference held this week in Chicago. Skymalltravel.com is scheduled for launch in July. It will offer travelers access to airlines and booking services. Business Development Vice President Sandy Goldman called it "the ultimate travel portal", and said its features will include personalized statements of frequent flyer accounts and programs from Frequent Flyer Services Inc. and Trip.com's IntelliTrip service, which compares flight fares after scanning airline reservation systems.
Mothers Day boosts Blue Mountain Arts traffic
Traffic to BlueMountainArts.com spiked last week as Web users went to the Internet to send Mother's Day e-cards. According to Nielsen Media Research's weekly Web ratings report, the online card site was the eighth most popular site on the Net net during the period, reaching 10.1 percent of Internet users. The previous week, BlueMountainArts.com was ranked 11th and reached 5.5 percent. Another change shown in the week-to-week comparison of the top ten sites was Time Warner's Web sites slipping from seventh place to tenth, while AltaVista.com fell from tenth to 11th. Frank Barnako is a reporter for CBS MarketWatch. He has owned shares in America Online since April 1995 and Amazon.com since September 1997.


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Regional Effort Aims to Lure Nanotech Biz
A push to connect researchers and businesses and to give the Upper Midwest an internationally known reputation for nanotechnology is being backed by some in Minnesota, according to a report by Minnesota Public Radio.
The challenge for attracting research dollars and jobs: The industry is very competitive, and states like New York, Texas, and Ohio are more actively working to attract nanotech jobs.
Steve Campbell, director of the nanofabrication center at the University of Minnesota, told MPR that nanotechnology-the engineering of products on the molecular scale-will affect nearly every industry and impacts major Minnesota companies like Maplewood-based 3M Company and Fridley-based Medtronic, Inc.
There is reportedly a growing effort to build a regional nanotech center, called NanoVox, that would encompass Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakotas, and maybe Manitoba, Canada. The organization would work to connect researchers and entrepreneurs with compatible interests.
Lynne Osterman, executive director of MN Nano, a nonprofit designed to develop nanotech jobs in Minnesota, told MPR that Minnesota and its neighboring Midwestern states each have different incentives for economic development and often compete for jobs.
Joe Ward, who runs a Hudson, Wisconsin business that makes nano particles to color printer ink, hopes the initiative will encourage states to implement consistent economic development incentives, according to MPR.
Click here to read more from MPR about the region's nanotech industry and see the initial reactions to the NanoVox initiative.


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33. The Rise of Femtech with Marija Butkovic
There is a significant shift taking place in the business world right now: women are using technology to solve real pain points they have experienced for years and that up until now have been largely ignored by brands. Known as ‘femtech’, it involves using technology to create innovative new products and services which focus on women’s health.
Femtech will impact women of all ages, across generations. Frost & Sullivan predict this market will grow to US$50 billion by 2025. As women’s purchasing power increase, femtech will provide growing opportunities for brands and investors over the next decade and beyond. In this episode, global femtech spokesperson and advocate, MarijaButkovic joins me to discuss the growing opportunities within the femtech industry and shares with us how brands and business owners can get involved.
For the show notes head to: https://marketingtomums.com.au/podcast/ep33-with-marija-butkovic-the-rise-of-femtech


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Fathers beware, grubby children and destructive pets stop millions of people from ever splashing out on dream furniture and decor, according to a new survey.
More than half admit having children completely influences the way they decorate and prevents them buying fixtures, fittings and furniture they would really love in their home.
Two thirds of parents are so worried the little terrors will ruin their hard work with pens, crayons, paint, etc they won't buy a pale carpets.
Some 62 per cent, meanwhile, avoid fashionable glass topped tables and 70 per cent would never consider a light-coloured sofa although it was a favourite.
Another 18 per cent admit they have had to sacrifice plans for trendy laminate or real wood flooring fearing it would either be too noisy or their kids would slip and injure themselves.
The survey of 2000 people by interior design company Rhodec International revealed more than 40 per cent of parents are resigned to never buying anything they really want until the children fly the nest.
It shows that 28 per cent of parents look forward to the day when their kids finally move out so they can decorate exactly how they want.
But it's not just kids who are causing havoc around the home - over a third of Brits claim their pets restrict the way they decorate too.


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Online lenders operating in California such as LendingClub Corp. and OnDeck Capital Inc. would be required to ditch the annual percentage rate (APR) in favor of a new metric when disclosing small-business loan costs if a bill before California’s Assembly becomes law.
The bill (S.B. 1235), which has already passed the state Senate, would require nonbank small-business lenders to estimate the “annualized cost of capital” (ACC) to disclose financing costs. The untested metric selected by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Steve Glazer (D), would replace the APR often used in disclosures for all types of commercial financing products issued by nonbank lenders, from term loans to lines of credit to merchant cash advances.
With nearly 4 million small businesses, California represents a large market for fintech lenders. Five of the largest online lenders funded approximately $1.6 billion to 21,832 California small businesses from 2015 to 2017, according to a May report commissioned by two fintech trade groups.
Many fintech trade groups said they support the bill’s transparency goals but oppose the ACC metric, saying it’s more likely to confuse borrowers who might think they’re comparing it to APR.
“ACC is entirely untested in the marketplace — no federal or state agency has adopted it, and there are no studies to evaluate whether ACC yields accurate results across different financing products, or how it compares to other annualized rates,” Scott Stewart, CEO of the Innovative Lending Platform Association, told Bloomberg Law by email.
Small-business owners are increasingly turning to fintech lenders to meet their financing needs, but struggle to understand the costs and fees associated with different credit, the Federal Reserve Board said in a 2018 report.
Commercial loans aren’t subject to the same disclosure rules as consumer loans, though many lenders voluntarily use interest rates and APR to help small-business borrowers estimate the cost of financing.
That’s one reason the new metric has many marketplace lenders worried.
“It would be reckless to use California’s small-businesses population as guinea pigs to test this new metric,” Stewart said. ILPA members include Kabbage, OnDeck, and Lendio, some of the largest small-business online lenders in the U.S.
Others are concerned ACC could misrepresent loan costs. Using ACC “consistently produces a lower number than APR and traditional interest rates,” the Marketplace Lenders Association, whose members include Affirm, LendingClub, Prosper, and SoFi, said in an opposition letter.
“ACC will give higher-cost financing the inaccurate appearance of being less expensive than credit cards, bank loans, or loans from more transparent nonbanks. This will effectively steer small businesses towards more expensive financing,” the MLA said.
The ACC will be easier than APR for small businesses to calculate and understand, Glazer’s chief of staff, Daniel Weintraub, told Bloomberg Law. “ACC is just an annualized interest rate, one of the oldest metrics in the finance world. You add up all the costs, expressed as a percentage of a loan amount,” he said.
“It’s true that the two metrics, depending on the structure of the financing, can provide different numbers, but they’re not meant to be compared,” he said.
Though the bill would sunset the ACC disclosure requirement after four years, Glazer’s office hopes it will catch on in other states that look to California for policy models, Weintraub said.
Merchant Cash Advance Split
The Small Business Finance Association, which represents small business lenders including merchant cash advance providers, supports the ACC metric specifically. “We feel it’s a better representation of a cost to a business,” and APR can distort the price of short-term products, Steve Denis, the SBFC’s executive director, told Bloomberg Law.
But others said the SBFA’s members have the most to gain by using the metric by making their rates appear lower than others. “The ACC metric was concocted by the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) lobby as an end-around effort to avoid using the financial standard Annualized Percentage Rate (APR) metric, used by virtually every bank lender, online lender and credit card issuer in the United States,” the ILPA’s Stewart said.
A different merchant cash advance group opposes the metric. “Because this disclosure is not consistently used in any business finance transactions, it will confuse small business owners and increase the risk of litigation,” the Commercial Finance Coalition said in an opposition letter.
“Any set of disclosures will require flexibility to ensure that information given to business owners is not misleading or even deceptive. The Legislature should consider what terms business owners would actually find helpful,” the CFC said.
Further Revisions Ahead?
The bill passed the California Senate on May 31, but must pass the full Assembly. It would have to pass the Senate again to account for previous changes to reach Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk.
The Assembly Banking and Finance Committee approved the bill June 26 by a 9-0 vote, but with “questions about how the new metric” would work, acting committee Chairwoman Monique Limon told Bloomberg Law.
The committee members wanted to advance the bill to show support for Glazer’s intent to promote lending transparency, she said. “I think some people thought more information is better than none,” Limon said.
The bill could still change as it proceeds, though its sponsor has the last word on the text. Glazer would still consider changes “that broaden the coalition in favor of the bill” and preserve its goals, Weintraub said.
“We’re all watching what the author decides to do,” Limon said.


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Chris Brown has tried to redeem himself in the public eye after brutally assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, and though he’s certainly made an industry “comeback,” many consumers are still unhappy that he’s back in the spotlight at all.
A group of morality vigilantes in the UK have taken it upon themselves to go around to record stores and affix “warning” stickers to Brown’s albums. When customers pick up his album in certain stores, they might be confronted with a label that reads “WARNING. DO NOT BUY THIS ALBUM! THIS MAN BEATS WOMEN.”
“It would appear a member of the public popped into one of our stores yesterday and stickered a handful of CDs,” a rep for HMV tells E! News, denying that any HMV employee had anything to do with the label. “These
were spotted and quickly removed, but, before we could act, the
individual concerned must have taken a photo and sent it to the media.
To our knowledge there are no further stickers in our stores now.”
Though the rep claims that a “handful” of albums were stickered, actually every “Fortune” record in the store was slapped with the warning. There’s no word as to whether the renegades hit any other record stores.


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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- TheStreet's Jim Cramer answered some Twitter questions from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, and the first one asks if privacy concerns and laws would cripple the cloud model.
Cramer says he is not concerned about a mobile Internet bubble forming. He noted over the weekend that Twitter (TWTR) is a much-loved vehicle for advertisers because they do not have to pay for it, unlike Facebook (FB). Cramer points out, though, that he made this remark because of conversations with CEOs and he loves Twitter.
Another Twitter user asks when he should sell Apple (AAPL) or if he should keep it for the long run. Cramer calls it a valuation play and says it remains one of the cheapest techs, much like Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT). He says he wants to see overvaluation before he sells it, which he does not have at this time.
Another user asks about General Electric (GE), and Cramer says investors need to see a dividend boost. He owns it in his charitable trust, but Cramer advises not to trade GE because it historically does nothing going into and coming out of its quarterly earnings reports.
In response to a question about Microsoft, Cramer immediately suggests buying the tech giant because CEO Satya Nadella has "really re-energized the place," while CFO Amy Hood has been "terrific." Cramer believes Microsoft can split up and anticipates better-than-expected earnings because of Windows.
Asked if Target (TGT) is about to head higher, Cramer says the broad-line retailers such as Walmart (WMT) and Target have paid their dues. If investors want to play Target to $61 or $62, then Cramer thinks they will get it.
Finally, Cramer says his favorite sector for the remainder of 2014 is oil and gas. He points to Monday's consolidation of Kodiak Oil & Gas (KOG) and Whiting Petroleum (WLL), which had both been way up individually and then did a deal together and climbed even higher. These stocks get hammered every time oil ticks down, and Cramer says "that's when you swoop in."


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© Reuters. File photo: October 28, 2013, Wall Street sign outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
NEW YORK (Reuters)-The US stock market fell on Friday and recorded a decline this week as Amazon’s stock price fell after the company predicted a slowdown in sales growth, but still rose for the sixth consecutive month.
Amazon (NASDAQ:) shares fell 7.6%-the largest single-day percentage drop since May 2020-the company reported late Thursday that its second-quarter revenue was lower than analysts’ average expectations, and Indicates that sales growth will slow in the next few quarters, as customers move out of their homes more.
The stocks of other Internet and technology giants that performed well during the blockade last year, including Google’s parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc and Facebook (Nasdaq:), also mostly lower.
“The overall earnings have been good. But Amazon…and some of the winners from last year are removing some of the air from the market today,” said Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “This market is driven by large technology companies. When technology companies perform well, the market seems to go with the flow, and when it doesn’t go well,” it fell.
Data released on Friday showed that US consumer spending increased more than expected in June, but the annual inflation rate was further higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
The S&P 500 index fell 149.06 points or 0.42% to 34,935.47, the S&P 500 index fell 23.89 points or 0.54% to 4,395.26, and fell 105.59 points or 0.71% to 14,672.68
This month, the S&P 500 index rose 2.3%, the Dow Jones index rose 1.3%, and the Nasdaq index rose 1.2%, while the major indexes all fell this Wednesday.
Strong earnings this month and the continued rebound in the US economy have helped support the stock market, but the rapid spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus and rising inflation have been worrying.
Dollarhide said: “There are still some distant unease, about the Delta variant, about the rumors about the increase in cases, I think some of the underlying concerns are concerns about the slowing of the reopening and the possible reversal.”
Also in terms of earnings, Pampers manufacturer Procter & Gamble (NYSE:) Co rose 2% because it predicts that its core earnings will be higher this year. Canadian restaurant brand International (NYSE:) Inc’s US-listed shares rose after the Hamburg IPO 5.1% of King’s owners’ quarterly profits exceeded expectations.
However, Pinterest (NYSE:) Inc’s stock price plummeted 18.2% after the company stated that user growth in the US is slowing because more people use the platform for handicrafts and DIY projects during the peak of the pandemic.
caterpillar Inc (NYSE:) shares also fell, closing down 2.7%, despite the company’s second-quarter adjusted profit growth amid the recovery in global economic activity.
Refinitiv’s IBES data shows that the overall performance of S&P 500 index companies this quarter was far better than expected, and about 89% of nearly 300 reports so far exceeded analysts’ profit expectations. Earnings in the second quarter are now expected to increase by 89.8%, compared with the 65.4% forecast in early July.
The trading volume on the US exchange was 8.86 billion shares, while the average trading volume for the entire trading day over the past 20 trading days was 9.74 billion shares.
The ratio of falling shares to rising shares on the New York Stock Exchange was 1.43:1; on the Nasdaq, the ratio of 1.58:1 favored the decliners.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index hit 65 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite Index hit 84 new highs and 98 new lows.


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Quick Note: Lumia 900 is Out of Stock
April 4, 2012 11:03 AM
comment(s) - last by
AT&T may not have been kidding when they said this launch would beat the iPhone; key driver is "free" price
I joined the pre-order fest of Nokia Oyj.'s (
over the weekend. I preordered Saturday, not long
after the preorder
and $100 off
-- deal went live.
Sadly! I received the following email later that day from AT&T:
The items in your order are currently out of stock and will be shipped when inventory becomes available. When the items in your order ship, we'll send you an email with the ship tracking number(s).
Now I'm assuming that Nokia and its U.S. carrier partner, AT&T, Inc. (
), has a large stock of Lumia 900s, given that they've had
months to prepare
, and that they're saying this launch will be
bigger than any iPhone launch to date
Operating under this assumption, the sold out status indicates that the demand for the Lumia 900 is very high -- likely in the millions of units. Looks like Microsoft Corp.'s (
in Nokia is finally paying dividends. This should be a big boost to
Windows Phone's market share
If the above hypothesis is correct, AT&T might not have been kidding when they said this would be there biggest smartphone launch ever. For myself and fellow wait-listed preorder customers, it's a bit disappointing, but I'm hopeful it will be worth the wait.
I will update you with an article about my impressions on the phone and discussing the experience of switching from Android to Windows Phone, when I receive my unit.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Driving force
4/5/2012 9:24:22 AM
Don't confuse advertising and marketting. Nokia was not the first to advertise.
Marketting includes having sales reps push the phone. Go call sprint and ask them about a Windows Phone right now. The person you speak with will come around to, "...but we have an iPhone....there is a special on iPhones...blah blah iphone"
Now walk into a Verizon store and ask about a Windows Phone. You'll get "talked into" an Android. AT&T was the same last month.
This month if you go into an AT&T store asking about an iPhone they'll show you a Nokia.
You haven't been proved right for Shat. Especially since you're arguing against your own point. The Nokia is still single core with crappy resolution right?
"We basically took a look at this situation and said, this is bullshit." -- Newegg Chief Legal Officer Lee Cheng's take on patent troll Soverain
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The city of Monticello will provide office space to Mills Fleet Farm to conduct employee interview sessions in the months prior to the company opening its new store.
“Fleet Farm will be seeking to build a workforce for their new site, and they asked if the Prairie Conference Center was available,” City Administrator Jeff O’Neill reported during his Feb. 27 city council update.
“I tentatively said that it was; one of the suites in the upper level is vacant and it fits their needs just perfectly,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill told the council Fleet Farm would need the space on the upper level of the building at 118 Sixth St. W. from March 20 through the end of July.
“I talked to Finance Director Wayne Oberg about it a little bit, and we are thinking of just charging utilities expense. They will using FiberNet services while in the city building.”
Mills Fleet Farm hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 9. 2016, to celebrate the start of construction on the new store at 320 Chelsea Road in Monticello.
Mills Fleet Farm representatives Nick Widi, senior vice president of store operations, and Brad Hoff, Fleet Farm regional manager, confirmed at the groundbreaking the opening of the new 165,000 square-foot Monticello store had been pushed back from this spring to this fall.
The Monticello Fleet Farm will have five automotive center bays, a seasonal display area, a combined convenience store and carwash totaling 4,905 square feet, three carwash bays and 16 fueling points, a kerosene fueling point, an accessory structure and an open yard area.
The Monticello Fleet Farm will have full, part-time, and seasonal employees combined will bring approximately 175 new jobs to town.
Compiled by Tim Hennagir – [email protected]


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Walmart, T-Mobile To Offer Discounted Cell Plans
Beginning this week, the new service — Walmart Family Mobile — will offer discount pricing without requiring consumers to pay in advance, sign annual service contracts or go through credit checks.
It "was designed to focus on families that want to stay connected but want to save money doing it," says Greg Hall, vice president of merchandising for Wal-Mart U.S.
Walmart Family Mobile customers will have unlimited talking and texting for $45 a month. Each additional line will cost $25.
Each Walmart Family Mobile user also initially can send and receive 100 megabytes of data. Walmart says that's enough to send 500 text-only e-mails, send 100 e-mails with photo attachments and view 200 Web pages.
In what T-Mobile USA COO Jim Alling calls "a major innovation," family members can share the data capacity. Also, those who use less than 100 MB can carry the balance over to the following month.
Once that 100 MB is gone, customers will have to pay extra for more data. Pricing will run $10 for 200 MB, $25 for 500 MB or $40 for 1 gigabyte.
Walmart doesn't own any cellphone towers. It is reselling service it buys wholesale from T-Mobile. Walmart already has a similar relationship with Verizon, reselling its service under the Straight Talk brand. The Verizon/Walmart plans, which are prepaid, also cost about $45 a month.
Others retailers may follow Walmart's lead to strengthen ties to consumers.
"The next likely participant is Best Buy," says Dan Hays, who directs the telecom practice at consulting firm PRTM. Mobile providers are interested in partnerships because "It's becoming clear that the network is no longer a major differentiator. It's about the brand, the devices and the services that are offered."
Hall says that Walmart will continue to offer multiple mobile phone services, although Walmart Family Mobile will be most prominently displayed in stores.
The service initially will be offered at about 2,500 Walmarts and to online customers. It won't be available directly from T-Mobile. Also, the Walmart-branded service won't be available in some parts of the country, especially rural areas, where T-Mobile doesn't provide strong coverage, Alling says.
The T-Mobile executive says that his company decided to work with Walmart even though the new service could lure customers away from T-Mobile's own services.
"While we will lose some (market) share on T-Mobile-branded (service), we know that this is going to take share" from other competitors, Alling says. He adds, "We have a broader range (of services) on the full T-Mobile brand."
The companies declined to say how many customers they expect Walmart Family Mobile to have in the first year.
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The woes keep coming for NBC's Heroes. Back in July 2007, Ubisoft announced they’d acquired the Heroes license, and planned an action game featuring the show’s characters in third person adventures. It was originally to be fast-tracked and hitting stores as early as this holiday season. Now comes news that the game has been cancelled, and Ubisoft has given the rights back to NBC Universal.
The news comes on the heels of co-executive producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander being fired from the show earlier this week. The series has been in a slump since the Writer’s Strike-shortened second season, and is currently experience a viewership decline of 21 %
The loss is another gut punch for Ubisoft as well, as it was the publisher of Lost: Via Domus, a game which put players in control of a new character rather than an established one from the show. The game didn’t do too well with its target audience, dropping to bargain prices after only a couple months, selling for $30 dollars on consoles and $20 on PC.


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Holly, MI- The Holly Area Chamber and Downtown Holly have teamed up to promote “Holly for the Holidays.”
While the traditional Dickens Festival festivities have been cancelled for the year due to COVID-19, businesses are still decking the halls (and storefront windows) to provide a charming shopping experience in the historic village.
Sales, promotions, and popup events are being shared on the Downtown Holly and Holly Area Chamber of Commerce pages throughout the holiday season.
There’s also a weekly contest for shoppers to upload their receipts from local businesses to be entered to win $100. Winners are drawn each Sunday evening through December 20. Each week is a new contest to enter new receipts.
The first winner was Carole from Clarkston who entered with three receipts from Holly stores. A new drawing is held each week and entries don’t carry forward, so shop and post each week to be in the drawing.
Several Holly businesses are open to welcome visitors, including Holly Cafe, which is now serving lunch and carryout meals, Holly Hotel which is doing carryout events, Blumz by JRDesigns, Creative Fashions, Kerton Lumber, and Holly Antiques.
Keep up with the latest on the Downtown Holly and Holly Area Chamber of Commerce pages.


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Check out all our earnings call transcripts.
On this week's episode of Motley Fool Money, host Chris Hill and Motley Fool contributors Jason Moser, Ron Gross, and Andy Cross hit on the market's biggest stories. Tune in for the latest news out of Netflix (NFLX -1.51%), lululemon athletica (LULU -1.11%), Tiffany (TIF), UnitedHealth Group (UNH -0.09%), and American Express (AXP -0.03%); as always, the guys also share some stocks on their radar. In memory of the late Jack Bogle, they close with a celebration of the truly world-changing work he did with Vanguard, and play some clips to remember his sense of humor. Also, Chris talks with Reuters journalist Paul Lienert about what he's seeing at the Detroit Auto Show, from massive crossovers and SUVs to a surprising lack of electric cars to a surprising presence of electric helicopters, and more.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on Jan. 18, 2019.
Chris Hill: It's the Motley Fool Money radio show! I'm Chris Hill. Joining me in studio this week, senior analysts Jason Moser, Andy Cross, and Ron Gross. Good to see you as always, gentlemen! We've got the latest headlines from Wall Street. We'll get a report from the auto show in Detroit. And, as always, we'll give you an inside look at the stocks on our radar. Later in the show, we're going to reflect on the life and legacy of John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, who passed away this week.
But we will start with the business headlines. First up is Tesla (TSLA -3.10%). Shares of Tesla falling around 10% on Friday after the company announced it is cutting its full-time workforce by 7%. CEO Elon Musk said the company needs to lower costs while also increasing production on the Model 3. Jason, 2019, not off to a great start for Tesla.
Jason Moser: No. If you remember, SpaceX is going to be cutting jobs, as well. It does stink for people losing their jobs. From a business perspective, this is a good thing, which is why I thought the stock would be up on the news. It's always a coin flip, really. The market is selling the stock off on this news, which is a little interesting. But when it comes to Tesla, it's about figuring out ways to cut costs, ramp up production.
Ultimately, this goes back to coming up with cars that people not only want, but they can afford. It goes back to this debate we've had for probably five years, as to whether Tesla actually has pricing power or not. It always struck me that they didn't. The cars were essentially built, they're very expensive, you have to offset some of that cost with tax credits and whatnot. And to attract a bigger audience, they typically are not going to be paying up for premium automobiles. I mean in Musk's own words here, in the email he sent, I'll quote this, he said, "The need for a lower-price variant of Model 3 becomes even greater on July 1st, when the U.S. tax credit again drops in half, making our car $1,875 more expensive, and again at the end of the year when it goes away entirely." Does Tesla have pricing power? I would say no. I think they're making the right call here in figuring out ways to whittle down costs because they are, I believe, stepping into a very challenging period.
Andy Cross: Building on that silver lining, what Elon said in his email which caught my attention was, "We're reducing headcount by 7%. We grew by 30% last year, which is more than we can support." So, here's the thing we've been looking forward to from Elon Musk, which is to show that he can run this company as a CEO, as a real car company. I saw that in that letter. That's what impressed me and gave me encouragement for Tesla shareholders and customers going forward.
Moser: I agree with that, totally. He looks like a guy who is ready to run this business, not just offer up big old grandiose visions.
Hill: They're going to report earnings on February 5th. He was pretty clear last year that, when they reported a profit, we're going to be profitable every quarter. What do you think?
Moser: I like to underpromise and overdeliver, so I might have done it a little bit differently. I guess time will tell.
Ron Gross: He's one of those CEOs that will get it done, no matter whether they have to work double time, cut costs, whatever they have to do on either the top line or the expenses. If he said it, he's going to try to get it done.
Hill: Fourth-quarter subscribers for Netflix came in lower than the company had predicted. Still, shares of Netflix up this week, thanks in no small part to the price increase the company announced two days before they released the earnings.
Cross: It was an impressive quarter, continuing to build on as they are building this behemoth of a media company with 139 million global subscribers, 58.5 million in the U.S., 80.8 million internationally. Growth was up 30%. They continue to see they need to make the investments as they're building out the platform that they can serve.
They offered up a lot of interesting content stats which I found very interesting. Analysts have been looking forward to this. The one that I found the most interesting is that they now in the U.S. have about 10% of TV screen time per day. That's about 100 million viewing hours in the U.S. per day on Netflix. When you think about the volume of content they have, the ability to show that to those subscribers, it continues to impress me. However, it's expensive, and the free-cash-flow line continues to be negative.
Hill: You look at the subscriber number, Ron, yes, they came in a little bit lower than they had guided, they still came in close to nine million.
Gross: The growth, obviously, is impressive. Playing the expectations game with that, you're going to be ahead or behind in any given quarter. But very, very impressive. Speaking of pricing power, getting back to that, it clearly seems that Netflix does have pricing power. That doesn't extend into perpetuity. At some point, they're going to raise prices, and it'll tip the scales to where some people will say, "That's too much for me. I'm not actually utilizing Netflix, I'm not enjoying the content enough to pay the price that they're charging." But it doesn't seem that that will be anytime soon.
Cross: Can I go back to that stat I said? It's 100 million hours of video per day. That's about 1.7 hours per day per membership in the U.S. That's about 51 hours per month. The average price for Netflix subscriptions is about $10. That's like $0.20 an hour that we're paying to use Netflix. So, when I think about the ability for them to keep raising prices as they need to deliver this content, I do see room for them to grow in that regard.
Hill: We talk about Netflix in the competitive landscape going up against the likes of Disney, Hulu, etc. I thought it was pretty smart of Reed Hastings to talk about the competitive landscape, not just in terms of those companies, but also broadening it to talk about things like YouTube and Fortnite. Certainly for younger people, that's taking some of their attention, as well.
Moser: I think that's the key, understanding that they're in the entertainment industry. It's not just streaming video. Fortnite is a good comparison there. Just to go back to the price increases for a second, because I do feel like Netflix has earned that right to boost prices incrementally. They're going to be able to do that for a little while longer. The question for me is, how far can they go? If you just look at the math here and say Netflix raises prices by $10 a month on all U.S. subs today, that gives them an additional $7 billion in revenue per year. The problem is, that money's already been spent. And they're going to have to keep on doing that. Part of the downside of the binge-watching movement is, the content lasts a much shorter lifetime, which means you have to come out with more content. Their business model is in the line of producing a ton of it. It's going to be expensive to do, but they've proven very worthy of maintaining that subscriber base.
Gross: You counter that with a company like Costco, which also appears to have some pricing power with their membership fee. But every time they raise that membership fee, it accrues to the bottom line. It's incremental profit because they're so profitable in the first place because the model just works.
Moser: Yeah, the argument with Netflix is, eventually, those price increases will trickle down to the bottom line. But it's still in theory right now. We have to wait and see.
Cross: They did raise $800 million in notes, at one point $1 billion in euro notes, during the quarter. Continuing to put debt on the balance sheet that they hope they can recover from down the road.
Hill: Shares of Lululemon Athletica up 10% this week after the company raised guidance for the full fiscal year. Ron, safe to assume that Lululemon had a good holiday?
Gross: Good holiday. I'm going to say the word athleisure, but I don't want to. [laughs] But for our listeners, I'm going to say the word.
Hill: I don't like the word athleisure.
Gross: And you should not, I agree. Strong holiday season, which was not the across-the-board experience for retailers. We certainly didn't see that. If this was a discounter, I would say that makes sense. But this is a fairly high-priced item here. Kudos to them. Athleisure remains hot. The company's doing really well. I expect to see a great report when they do actually report earnings. If you recall, back in the last quarter, comp sales were up 17% on a 44% increase in direct-to-customer business. The stock continues to execute well. Stock's up almost 100% over the last year.
Hill: Tiffany shares also up this week. Help me out, guys, because I'm not really sure why they're up this week. Same-store store sales during the holidays down 2%. They came out with guidance for the full fiscal year that they said is going to be at the lower end of the range.
Gross: Now, this makes more sense. You have a high-end retailer that had a soft holiday season. Chinese tourists spending globally less hurt them. Soft demand in the U.S. and Europe hurt them. Worldwide same-store sales were down 2%. Not surprising, I would have expected to see a report like this.
Why the stock is up, I can't really explain. They cut profit guidance, which usually means the stock is going to trade down. It's at 19X earnings, so it's not really expensive. People you know aren't maybe selling it off on value. Maybe it just was stable enough.
Moser: I think there's a consistency, also, with Tiffany. They've proven over long periods of time that they don't chase those dollars, they don't resort to those fire sales to move inventory. You know what you're getting with them from a retail perspective, which is pretty valuable if you're looking for one of those buy-and-hold-style investments.
Hill: Shares of UnitedHealth Group up 7% this week after reporting strong profits in the fourth quarter. Jason, UnitedHealth is a $250 billion behemoth, and it's only getting behemoth-er.
Moser: [laughs] I love the use of that word there. I'm going to take that one home this weekend. You keyed in on my first observation. This company is so impressive in its scale. That scale is such a tremendous advantage in relation to their core business, which is essentially writing healthcare policies for the country and a lot of markets around the world. Full-year revenue was up 12%, $226 billion they brought in on the top line. The medical care ratio for the year was at 81.6%, down slightly, and that's a good thing. They typically keep it in the 81% to 82% range.
An interesting thing on a call I noted. This quarter, you're hearing them talk more and more about using digital channels, which is just code for telemedicine these days. That word this quarter was mentioned seven times on the call. You go back two years, never mentioned even once on the call. They're talking even more and more about that stuff. You'll see some advertisements on TV, as well. I think there's a lot of buy-in to that market. You may remember that UnitedHealth Group is a component of my Healthcare and Wealthcare basket of stocks. Closing in on one year, and man, these guys have a performance Bill Belichick would be proud of. It just keeps on doing its job. It's up 17.6% for the year vs. the market's 0.6%.
Cross: Over 10 years, it's up 900% vs. 250% for the market.
Moser: It's an impressive business.
Gross: Wow, nice!
Hill: Atlassian (TEAM -1.47%) is not a household name, but maybe it should be. Second-quarter results for the software company were good enough to send shares of Atlassian to an all-time high on Friday, Andy.
Cross: Atlassian makes collaborative software for companies. We use them here, their Trello solution. EPS of $0.25 vs. $0.13 last year, vs. $0.21 for the estimate. Subscription revenue up 56%. Operating margin on an adjusted basis increased to 25% from 22%. Things continuing to do well for Atlassian as they're growing. They passed 65,000 customers for their Jira product, which is their core solution. Lots of software innovation at Atlassian and delighting customers around the globe.
Hill: American Express closed out its fiscal year by more than doubling its annual profit. Shares of AmEx up this week. Ron, their expenses definitely going higher.
Gross: Going higher. But they have to do that to compete. There's a lot of offerings out there when it comes to cards. For example, they revamped their Gold card recently to include more travel and dining benefits. There are expenses associated with that.
But it was a strong report. It was actually a little light compared to expectations. But let's not play that game just for this moment. It was a strong report with revenue up 8%. Sixth consecutive quarter with revenue growth of at least 8%, which is pretty solid for them. As you mentioned, on an annual basis, profits more than doubled. Really good to see. Solid guidance. The stock's trading around 12X. These stocks do trade typically lower than a market multiple, so it doesn't necessarily indicate a very cheap stock, but it's certainly not expensive.
Hill: There was a point in our lifetimes where this was the card to have. It really seems like, whether it's through their own stumbles or just greatness on the part of companies like Visa and Mastercard, that AmEx really got lapped.
Gross: I used to use it exclusively. Now, I don't use it at all because I replaced it with something like a Southwest card, or people love hotel cards.
Moser: Ron, I have the American Express that I used to use religiously and now only occasionally because most of my behavior has gone over to the Amazon Prime card, which is working out quite nicely.
Hill: Let's get to the stocks on our radar this week. Our man behind the glass, Steve Broido, is going to hit you with a question. Ron Gross, you're up first. What are you looking at this week?
Gross: I'm going to go back to Union Pacific (UNP 0.22%), which operates one of the two largest railway networks in the U.S. They operate west of the Mississippi, connects about two-thirds of the country by rail. A unique competitive position as a result of their behemoth nature, for sure. They're constantly getting better, more efficient. They've got a rising dividend, aggressive share repurchase. They've paid dividends on the common stock for 119 consecutive years.
Gross: Years. They've been around a while. So, for those dividend investors out there, this is a good one. Solid company, and they continue to increase the dividend.
Hill: What's the ticker?
Gross: The ticker is UNP.
Hill: Steve, question about Union Pacific?
Steve Broido: It seems like gas prices continue to rise. I would imagine that helps Union Pacific. Am I right?
Gross: You are right. But the strength of the economy is largely what their results are based on. Let's keep an eye on the economy here. The downturn in the coal industry has hit the rail industry as well, but they still continue to produce pretty impressive results.
Hill: Another benefit, if you're investing in a railroad, pretty high barrier to entry.
Gross: For sure. They're building a lot of new ones.
Hill: It's not like the four of us can just go out and start our own railroad. Jason Moser, what are you looking at?
Moser: We're talking about 90% of the flavor and 10% of the cost, my favorite spice maker, McCormick (MKC 2.89%) (MKC.V 2.67%), ticker MKC. Earnings are out next Thursday, January 24th. I'm going to be watching to see signs that the Franks and French's acquisition is still going along nicely. All signs point to success there.
I really found it interesting last quarter, they noted that the company itself has added distribution to 20 new countries year to date, including larger markets like India. I want to see them tie a bow on that and really understand how much opportunity is left out there from a global perspective. Wouldn't be surprised to see these guys try to pull off another acquisition at some point. It sounds like they're getting this RB Foods one through.
Hill: Steve, question about McCormick?
Broido: McCormick seems to totally own the spice category. What do you do once you own a sector? What do you do next?
Moser: You do one of the things they did, in making smart acquisitions. The RB Foods acquisition gave them access to more of the condiment side of the flavor market. I think that's ultimately what they're trying to do, is expand their flavor portfolio beyond just spices. I'd keep an eye out for potentially a new acquisition.
Gross: I want a flavor portfolio.
Hill: Andy Cross, what are you looking at?
Cross: NVR (NVR 0.40%), the home builder that's located just up the street in Reston, Virginia. Reports earnings next week. $9 billion market cap. The stock peaked at $3,600 last year. Yes, $3,600. It's now at $2,500, down about 30%. It's the class of the home builders, which have really struggled as interest rates have increased. I'm looking to see what they're saying about their new orders, which were up about 2% last quarter. Their average selling price went in the other direction, down 2%. Symbol is NVR.
Hill: Steve, question about NVR?
Broido: It seems like home prices are going down as interest rates rise and sales seem to be decreasing. Why am I interested in this company?
Cross: The stock is cheaper. They're the class of the industry. When you think about the returns on capital this business makes and the way they go about running it, when I look at the next five years, and the stock has outperformed the industry and the market over the last five years, I expect more of the same.
Hill: A home builder, a spice maker, a railroad, what do you want to add to your watch list, Steve?
Broido: I like that dividend. I'm going with Ron and Union Pacific.
Hill: I really thought you were going to say 119 quarters.
Hill: This week, Detroit is home to both the Automotive News World Congress and the North American International Auto Show. Here to help us make sense of it all is veteran journalist Paul Lienert. He covers automotive tech, innovation, strategy and finance for Reuters and he joins me now from the Motor City. Paul, always good to talk to you!
Paul Lienert: Same here, Chris! Thanks!
Hill: What's your headline for the week?
Lienert: [laughs] In a world of electric vehicles and automated vehicles, if you walk through the Detroit Auto Show, you're going to see a lot of big trucks and big-ass crossovers.
Hill: I was looking at your Twitter feed, and I did notice you talking about the pickup trucks, the SUVs. Help me understand, because you know a whole lot more about the automotive industry than I do, what constitutes a big-ass crossover?
Lienert: I'm looking around at stuff with badges from Cadillac to Lincoln to Hyundai to Honda to Ford (F -0.41%). I'm seeing vehicles that are nearly as big as trucks, that have three rows of seats, that can carry seven or eight passengers. Many of them are all-wheel drive, or at least have all-wheel drive capability. And they can get very expensive very quickly. You can use your own terminology. I tossed that out there to see what kind of a reaction I'd get.
Hill: If what's being featured are the trucks, the SUVs, etc, where are the sedans? It really seems like, if we're just looking at automotive trends, sedans are on their way out.
Lienert: Chris, as you know, Ford announced last year that it was killing off most of its sedans in the U.S. because demand is sliding rapidly. GM (GM 0.80%) only recently announced it's going to start killing off some sedans. But if you walk through the auto show, you can find them here and there. Honda and Toyota, of course, sell two of the most popular sedans in the country. They're there. Lincoln, which is moving rapidly to become an all-SUV, all-crossover brand for Ford, they still have two or three sedans on their stand. Forgive me if I got a little schizophrenic feeling walking through the show.
Hill: Yeah, I'm wondering if, for anyone who's thinking about buying a vehicle later this year, if they're going to all of a sudden see dramatically lower prices on sedans, the dealers are just looking to move to make room for the bigger stuff?
Lienert: I would count on that. And I would count on that from many brands.
Hill: If they're not being celebrated, they're certainly being invested in. $300 billion being invested globally in electric vehicles. Is anyone making a splash this week in Detroit?
Lienert: Electric vehicles are normally quiet, but it's amazing to see an auto show in recent years that's quiet on electric vehicles. There was a concept on the Nissan stand, a concept on the Infiniti stand, which is a Nissan brand, and then the Chinese brought a concept. But boy, you have to look hard at the Detroit show this week to find an EV on the show floor.
Hill: Why do you think that is? I understand the appeal of the larger vehicles, but with so much money being poured into electric vehicles... are they just taking a year off, and in 2020, we're going to see more of a splash?
Lienert: I have a real easy glib answer, and then probably a slightly longer, but more sensible answer. I don't know what it's like where you live, Chris. Here in the Detroit area, gas is around $2 a gallon. You don't need to go much further than that to understand why people are a little reluctant to move out of their familiar internal combustion engine vehicles.
The longer answer is, EV charging stations are still pretty hard to find. It still takes way too long to charge an EV and many EVs, all the way up into the top of the Tesla range, still cost way more than a comparable gas engine model.
Hill: There have been years past when you and I have talked where Tesla was absolutely the belle of the ball when it came to the auto show. How is Tesla being talked about? The people you're meeting with this week, how is Tesla regarded? And what are people asking about the next 12 to 24 months when it comes to Tesla?
Lienert: I think the big buzz right now is, who's going to be out on the market within the next 12 to 24 months to challenge Tesla? There's a lot of competition coming mainly from the Germans right now, but from some other quarters, as well. Tesla's had the game pretty much to itself for a number of years. That's about to end.
Tesla's also moving into China. That's going to be an interesting situation to watch, too, not just from a political and trade war perspective, but to see if they're going to switch technologies, what they're going to do over there, will the Chinese embrace Teslas like the Americans have over here? And finally, later this year, we're going to get to finally get a look at the Model Y, the compact crossover that's coming out to join the Model 3.
Hill: What's your big question about the future of electric vehicles? I don't know if too many people are looking at the oil and gas industry, predicting that prices are going to spike dramatically in 2019.
Lienert: They are not. Nobody is saying that. In fact, just the opposite. Oil and gas prices should be relatively stable, at least for the foreseeable future now that fracking and other newer technologies have given us a glut of petroleum. In a nutshell, my question about EVs is, who will buy them?
Hill: You mentioned the Germans a moment ago. This week, Volkswagen and Ford Motor announced a global alliance to build pickup trucks, delivery vans, and more. You tell me, why are these two rivals teaming up?
Lienert: These two companies have been doing this dance for a little while. Volkswagen in years past actually talked to Chrysler -- oh my gosh, 30, 35 years ago -- about doing a much broader tie-up. Ironically, Ford was given a chance to buy Volkswagen right after World War II and turned that down.
Right now, they have different needs. Volkswagen desperately needs to get away from the diesel scandal. It's way out in the forefront of electrification. It's pouring like $90 billion into battery-powered vehicles. Ford is a little bit behind the curve on that, so it could probably use some of Volkswagen's expertise. And I think Volkswagen's work on automated vehicles, it hasn't stalled out, but it could probably stand to work with Ford and Ford's Ergo unit, which has been doing great work on automation, or at least development of automated vehicles.
There are some areas where they could participate. They can help each other in Europe, they could help each other in South America. So I think the talks will continue.
Hill: Let's go back to trucks for a second. What's the current state of the competition between Ford Motor and General Motors?
Lienert: Guess what? There's an interloper here that may knock Chevrolet out of the long-hailed No. 2 position, and that's Fiat Chrysler's RAM brand. The two are squaring off at the Auto Show. There's a new RAM heavy-duty pickup and new Chevy Silverado heavy-duty pickup, and you can price those puppies all the way up close to $100,000 if you load them up with all the goodies and gadgets they offer.
Hill: It was this week five years ago that Mary Barra took over as CEO of General Motors. She's well respected. She has demonstrated that the company she's running is open to innovation, trying new things. And yet investors have not been rewarded. In five years, the stock is almost exactly, down to the penny, where it was when she took the job. How is Mary Barra regarded in Detroit?
Lienert: I'm a huge admirer of Mary Barra. I think she's widely respected and admired not just in Detroit, but across the auto industry. She's done a lot of great things for General Motors and helped bring that company back from the brink. I think the single biggest issue for GM, as it is for Ford and a number of other incumbent automakers, is simply this: Wall Street -- and I use that to denote investors of every stripe -- aren't convinced that these folks can make that leap across the chasm to the future of transportation, whether we're talking about automated vehicles or electrified vehicles or the types of services that newer companies like Uber and Lyft offer. Everybody's working on it. They're scrambling. They're pouring money into it. Nobody's making a lot of money at it right now. And Ford and GM, in the meantime, continue to build big, profitable, very profitable, pickup trucks and SUVs. And GM's pretty darn good at that.
I don't know what it's going to take to convince Wall Street. It's amazing that a company like Tesla, that's, what, 10 years old or thereabouts, and has never made a full-year profit, is actually valued by investors much higher than GM or Ford.
Hill: There's a lot of action in the self-driving car space. You've got Ford and GM. You've got companies like Waymo. What should we be watching this year when it comes to self-driving vehicles?
Lienert: I think Waymo, which only late last year began offering a hint of a commercial service in Phoenix, is going to start to roll that out in other places, so real people can actually try the service. Think of it as an automated taxi service. There will still be drivers on the vehicles for a little while.
GM's still, through its Cruise subsidiary, in San Francisco. Wants to launch a similar service. Ford, in the meantime, decided not to go with passengers or human beings. First, they're delivering goods, everything from pizzas to packages. They're teamed up in Miami to test down there with Postmates and Domino's Pizza. Look for Ford to expand that to a few more places.
We're still in that very early testing stage, where you have to prove out the technology, but more importantly, you have to start proving out some of the services to see if these things will ever make any money.
Hill: Of everything you've seen this week, whether it's a particular type of technology or a concept car, what have you seen that really impressed you? Something that you thought, "Ooh, I'd like to get my hands on that."
Lienert: Chris, please don't laugh at me. [laughs] The thing that really stuck out -- I don't know if I would say it impressed me, although I'd really like to have one, is the carbon fiber electric helicopter from a company called Workhorse. It's tucked away in the back of Cobo Hall, way past the cars. But I walked over there and fell over this thing and I almost had a heart attack. It was awesome. I hope I can only figure out how to scare up about $200,000, we can talk business.
Hill: I was going to say, instead of asking you about self-driving cars, do I need to start asking you about the helicopter industry?
Lienert: Drones, my friend! Drones! Forget about these scooters, drones are the future. That and plastics.
Hill: If you want to know more about the automotive industry, you need to be reading Paul Lienert's stuff. Paul, I know it's an incredibly busy week, so thanks for making the time!
Lienert: Always love talking to you, Chris! Thanks for the conversation!
Hill: This week, the investing world lost a true giant. John Bogle died at the age of 89. In 1976 he founded Vanguard Group, created the first index mutual fund, and started a revolution in low-cost investing. Andy, make no mistake, every one of us -- whether we were a shareholder of Vanguard's products or not -- every one of us benefited. Every one of us is richer because of John Bogle.
Cross: I wrote this week that if there's ever an Investing Hall of Fame, he's an automatic first ballot taker. You just think about what he's created. Vanguard now has more than $5 trillion in assets under management. Most of those are invested in passive index funds to match the market in as low of cost as possible. This was revolutionary back in 1976. He was laughed at, he was derided. Yet, given the success and the way that he's built that business, as a mutual business, it really has had this lasting impact, and his legacy will not be forgotten. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Jack Bogle.
Gross: Yes. Certainly beloved by the individual investor. Not so much by the active manager, however, because all of a sudden, there was a passive product that you could buy, and you didn't necessarily need to rely on your active fund manager any longer. I think, as a whole, it's certainly been better for the investment community, for the world. But at the time, it was revolutionary, and not everyone was a fan.
Hill: Oh, no question! There were absolutely people used to a pretty cushy fee-based lifestyle, Jason, on Wall Street. And I'm sure some of them tried to pull him aside and say, "John, why are you trying to ruin a good thing here?"
Moser: Everything changes eventually, right? A lot of his investing tenets are what helped build our Foolish investing philosophy here that we talk about every week, on and on and on. I've seen the question posed more than once this week, who's going to be the next Jack Bogle for the market? I think the point is, there's not going to be one and we don't need one. That's how profound what he did was. He's going to have people like us, organizations like us, investors like us, get up there and call BS when we need to. That's the impact he's had. I think once that cat is out of the bag, it ain't getting back in.
Hill: We here at The Motley Fool had the chance to meet him a bunch of times. We've had him here at Fool headquarters a number of times. We loved Bogle for his passion, his competitive fire, also for his sense of humor. I want to play a clip of Jack Bogle when he made an appearance on the original Motley Fool Radio Show around the turn of the century. Here's Jack Bogle playing around of Buy, Sell, or Hold with me and Tom Gardner.
Tom Gardner: OK, let's start with buy, sell, or hold Warren Buffett.
Jack Bogle: Buy. He's a fundamental value investor. He would diversify a portfolio of U.S. stocks because he has some high-grade stocks in there but has also done very well over a long period of years in insurance company holdings. He's more of an insurance company than he is a U.S. stock investor now.
Gardner: OK, Jack. You live in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in the area. Buy, sell or hold Philly cheesesteaks?
Bogle: Hold Philly cheesesteaks.
Gardner: OK, why are you holding?
Bogle: Well, I'm holding them only if you don't have heart problems, because they've got, A, cheese, and B, steak. Cholesterol lovers -- those that can handle it, anyway -- should be entitled to it. They're delicious! They should be entitled to a good Philly cheesesteak. But I'm not putting it on buy, because you might do it more than, say, once a month.
Hill: OK, John, our final one: buy, sell, or hold teen pop sensation Britney Spears.
Bogle: Well, I would sell Britney Spears.
Gardner: OK, let's hear why.
Bogle: Well, she's a little sultry for those goo-goo eyes, I don't know, she's displaying a certain amount of virtue that we didn't use to see the stage.
Hill: Love that! Love that clip! Also, as he indicated when he was talking about cheesesteaks, pretty remarkable that Bogle had a heart transplant when he was in his mid-60s. Made it another 23 years. I think we all had the chance to meet him. So much energy and an absolute iron grip of a handshake.
Cross: The story of when he founded Vanguard, being forced out of Wellington, it's a really great boardroom struggle. He went off and backdoored his way back into creating the index funding and creating Vanguard and turning it into this amazing business.
Gross: He was a convert. He was not always a fan of passive investing. In fact, he railed against it. But kudos to him for realizing in the end that this was the way to go and it would be a great thing for individual investors.
Hill: Although, his senior thesis at Princeton was about index investing. I don't know about your senior thesis.
Gross: [laughs] Not that!
Hill: All right, Ron Gross, Jason Moser, Andy Cross, guys, thanks for being here! On behalf of producer Mac Greer and our engineer, Steve Broido, we're going to hand the final minute of the show over to Jack Bogle. This is from a visit he made to Fool headquarters a decade ago, when he shared how he came up with the title for his book Enough: True Measure of Money, Business, and Life.
Bogle: Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22, of course, are going to a party and share that lifestyles of the rich and famous and socially prominent place off Long Island in New York, to a party given by a billionaire hedge fund manager. And they get into the party, and Kurt says, "Joe, see that guy over there? He's a hedge fund manager, billionaire. And he made more money today, this one day, than you have made on every copy of Catch-22," probably the biggest book of the postwar generation, post-World War II generation, ever sold. He says, "He's made more money than you on every book, every copy of Catch-22 that's ever been sold." And Joe Heller looked at Kurt Vonnegut and said, "That's OK because I have something he will never have: enough. Enough." And that's where the story comes from.


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Overview: Convergence awarded a feasibility study grant to Beyond Finance, a Hong Kong based consulting firm with an all-woman team. This grant will enable Beyond Finance to design a closed-ended debt fund to finance companies that develop products and services for women consumers and companies led or founded by women in Asia and the Pacific.
A $300 billion gap in financing exists for formal, women-owned small businesses worldwide, and more than 70 percent of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have inadequate or no access to financial services. Women-led businesses in Asia and the Pacific are no exception, with only a small number of women-owned SMEs able to access financial services, which mostly comes from private commercial banks. In addition, there is a lack of private debt available for these businesses.
Convergence’s grant will allow Beyond Finance to explore the feasibility of structuring a gender lens debt fund to improve gender equality by investing in companies that directly target women by operating in industries such as sustainable agriculture, water and sanitation, housing, and renewable energy. The Fund will also seek to improve access to finance for women by investing in micro-finance institutions serving women and fintech platforms with a financial inclusion and gender focus. To support climate resilience, a significant portion of the portfolio will focus on companies that offer climate smart solutions that address the needs of frontier markets in Asia and the Pacific in the Water Energy Food nexus.
__Design question and learning potential for the market: __ How can a private debt fund be structured to finance businesses that focus on women as the target consumers and businesses led or founded by women in Asia-Pacific?
During the feasibility study, Beyond Finance will focus on developing the investment strategy for target geographies and design the structure of the fund accordingly. The grant will enable Beyond Finance to explore the feasibility of structuring a gender lens debt fund supported by a technical assistance facility. The technical assistance facility will enable the implementation of a rigorous impact measurement process that includes the establishment of key performance indicators (KPIs) for each investment, taking into account both environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, and a gender lens scorecard. These KPIs will in turn have real world consequences for investees, as the Fund will aim to link interest rates with meaningful ESG and gender impact performance.


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Developers are racing to build the Chicago area's first mall since the recession, even as some of the biggest shopping centers from the last building boom emerge from foreclosure and many retailers remain skittish about expanding.
Hoping to cater to consumers pinched by falling home prices and meager pay raises, three rival teams are pushing proposals for outlet malls, a shift from the high-end strategy of troubled developments such as Block 37 in the Loop or the Arboretum of South Barrington in the northwest suburbs.
Chicago real estate investor Quintin Primo is reviving his plans for a 400,000-square-foot outlet mall in south suburban Country Club Hills, while Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens is the guiding force behind developers' plans for a two-level , enclosed mall that would feature discount versions of ultra-upscale retailers such as Barneys New York, Prada and Gucci.
Meanwhile, an upstart team is angling to upset those high-powered rivals with a 530,000-square-foot project in southwest suburban New Lenox.
All three development teams say they're close to signing enough leases to land construction financing, a boon to suburbs eager to see tax revenue grow.
Yet commercial real estate industry sources say it's possible just one of the projects will be built. Even so, the first construction start of a major mall since 2007 would be a sign that the retail real estate market is slowly rebounding.


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International public health experts called on Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to reconsider the government’s plan to prohibit the sale of tobacco and smoke-free nicotine products to those born after 2005, which they said may eventually create a large black market and fuel the illicit trade of these products.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Yaakob on 21 February 2022, academics and tobacco harm reduction advocates David Abrams, Clive Bates, Ray Niaura and David Sweanor said the prohibitionist policy may have unintended consequences such as the growth of the black market for cigarettes and alternative nicotine products.
The four signatories are referring to the Malaysian government’s proposal to ban sales and possession of cigarettes and vaping products to everyone born after 2005. They feared that the ban might extend to vaping products that are much less dangerous than cigarettes.
“We hope the government will consider the limitations and likely unintended consequences of prohibition measures. We hope ministers will consider the alternative approach of risk-proportionate regulation based on MPOWER and tobacco harm reduction,” they said, referring to the pragmatic approach to reduce the smoking epidemic by providing smokers with less harmful alternatives such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, snus and nicotine pouches.
The signatories who have spent many years as academics and advocates trying to reduce the harms caused by tobacco include Dr. David Abrams, professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at New York University; Clive Bates, director of London-based Counterfactual Consulting Limited; Dr. Raymond Niaura, chair of the Department of Epidemiology at New York University; and David Sweanor, law professor at University of Ottawa.
Copies of the letter were also sent to Malaysian Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister of Finance Tengku Zafrul Aziz and Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Alexander Nanta Linggi.
The international experts said that while Minister Jamaluddin is correct to highlight the devastating health and economic impact of smoking that affects over 40 percent of Malaysian men, the government should be very cautious about prohibition measures, especially if they are applied to adults.
“The proposed measures would apply increasingly to adults as those born after 2005 grow older. It is almost impossible to suppress demand for a recreational stimulant like nicotine, and many adolescents will try to adopt the behaviors of the adults in their lives,” they said.
“A prohibition does not make the banned products disappear, and age restrictions do not make them unavailable to people beneath the age threshold. A prohibition or age restriction changes how the products are supplied, who supplies them, and at what price—sometimes at a lower price if taxes are illegally avoided,” the experts said.
They warned that over time, the market, under the prohibition measures, would be supplied through cross-border trade, internet sales, and more established criminal networks with aggravated risks of bribery and corruption. “The measure will become harder to enforce as it involves ID checks on adults. It is also likely that young people would play a significant role in the illicit supply chain. There is already a substantial illicit market in tobacco products, with estimates of almost 60 percent of cigarettes sold illegally,” they said.
The international experts also warned about the impact of such policy on tourism, as most adults visiting Malaysia come from jurisdictions where age restrictions are only applied to adolescents. “It is unclear how visitors and the visitor economy would respond. The challenge with any prohibition is, therefore, to recognize the plausible unintended harmful consequences that arise. These need a thorough assessment and the risks properly balanced against any possible benefits,” they said.
At the same time, they said the prohibition may reduce the opportunity of tobacco harm reduction. “Significant reductions in health risk can be expected when a smoker switches from a smoked product like cigarettes to a smoke-free product like e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, smokeless tobacco or new nicotine pouches. Encouraging smokers to switch from high-risk to low-risk nicotine products is a promising public health strategy because these products have three essential characteristics,” they said.
These smoke-free alternatives impose much lower risks to health and welfare than smoking products because most of the smoking-related harm arises from products of combustion in cigarette smoke, not nicotine, according to them.
Scientific evidence shows that these smoke-free products contribute to smoking cessation and diversion from smoking. “Smoke-free products do not require the user to quit nicotine but eliminate the toxic burden of smoke. They offer an easier way to quit smoking for more dependent or committed nicotine users,” they said.
“Given the role of smoke-free products in reducing smoking, the optimum policy should be different for these products – they should be seen as part of the solution to Malaysia’s smoking problem,” they said.
The experts said a strong commitment to addressing smoking would mean having the strongest tax, product regulation, warnings, age thresholds, and marketing restrictions for the most dangerous product which is cigarettes. “It would also mean proportionate measures on the products that function as a low-risk alternative to smoking—vaping products, etc.—focused mainly on consumer protection. This regulatory philosophy is known as ‘risk-proportionate regulation’,” the international experts said.
Such concept of risk proportionality already underpins the regulatory philosophy in the UK and New Zealand. “And we recommend this approach to the government of Malaysia,” they said.
“Regulators should take care not to impose regulations that place smoke-free products at a disadvantage to cigarettes, for example, through caps on nicotine strength or bans on flavors unrelated to a chemical hazard,” they said.
For smoke-free products, the experts recommend low or zero taxation; controls on themes and placement of advertising but not an outright ban; warning and risk communications that encourage smokers to switch; restriction on sales to under-18s; regulation to protect consumers related to chemical, electrical, thermal and mechanical safety.
Tobacco harm reduction is widely supported in the expert community. In October 2021, a hundred experts sent a letter to the heads of national delegations to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to set out the arguments for tobacco harm reduction.
“We believe that it is time for global tobacco policy to draw on the full potential of tobacco harm reduction. We hope the public health science, policy, and practitioner communities will converge on a common purpose to meet the SDGs and to reduce the global burden of tobacco-related disease and premature mortality as quickly and deeply as possible,” they said.


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The North American marijuana market is positioned to skyrocket from $9.2 billion in 2017 to $47.3 billion by 2027, according to Arcview Market Research. While the potential for profits in the cannabis industry is massive, the market is viewed as particularly risky given marijuana has net yet officially been legalized in the U.S. on the national level. Although the majority of U.S.-based cannabis companies and many foreign ADRs trade over-the-counter, where there are less stringent listing requirements, a few marijuana companies are traded on the NASDAQ. Some investors prefer stocks that are listed on the NASDAQ to other exchanges due to their increased liquidity and tighter spreads than the OTC markets. As the cannabis industry has grown in the recent years, uplisting from an OTC market to a reputable U.S. exchange has become a banner achievement for many rising marijuana companies. The NASDAQ was the first electronic exchange and has long been synonymous with technology and biotechnology. The cannabis companies on the NASDAQ reflect this, with the majority of them operating in the biotech area of the industry.
In 2018, cannabis stocks sparked a frenzy among investors, fueled by developments including the legalization of recreational marijuana use in Canada, the adoption of legal medical and recreational marijuana use in more states across the U.S., headline achievements of top players, as well as major investments in the space from blue chip companies such as Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ). U.S. marijuana stocks are hindered by laws which heavily tax the industry and lower firms’ access to traditional banking services. For this reason, the largest Cannabis companies are based abroad, including GW Pharmaceuticals, Canopy Growth, and Aurora Cannabis. Other headwinds facing the industry at large include declines in marijuana prices due to investments in production that quickly increase supply. Nonetheless, growth prospects for the industry remain robust, and the market’s recent reversal from its risk-off environment in 2018 spells good news for pot stocks.
Here’s a look at the top performing individual marijuana stocks trading on the NASDAQ as of February 2019, based on the sector’s performance since the start of the year. The list here is presented in order of year-to-date (YTD) performance based on the closing stock price, as of December 31, 2018 and closing price as of Feb 5, 2019. The performance has been compared to the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (TSX: HMMJ) and ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSEMKT:M) YTD gains of 49.8% and 46.6% respectively. This list includes companies with market caps above $1 billion.
1. Cronos Group Inc. (CRON)
· Market Cap: $4.16 billion
· YTD Stock Performance: 110.1%
2. GW Pharmaceuticals PLC ADR (GWPH)
· Market Cap: $4.48 billion
· YTD Stock Performance: 50.9%
3. Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARNA)
· Market Cap: $2.4 billion
· YTD Stock Performance: 26%
Cronos Group is a Toronto-based, geographically diversified and vertically integrated cannabis producer that operates within Health Canada’s Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations and distributes globally.
Shares of Cronos Group are up a whopping 200% over 12 months and more than 122% over three months. Cronos Group saw its shares jump in December on news of tobacco giant Altria Inc.’s (MO) planned $1.8 billion investment for a 45% stake in the company. Another headline $4 billion investment from Corona-maker Constellation in 2018 helped boost investor confidence. The deal was seen as giving Cronos ample cash to expand its operations, win licenses, as well as secure it a partner with expertise in marketing global consumer brands. The stock plunged over 6% on Feb 5 on a downbeat note from GMP Securities, which lowered its rating from buy to hold, “solely on valuation,” per MarketWatch.
Investors will be keeping an eye on how well Cronos can expand into the U.S. market and abroad while increasing its penetration in the Canadian recreational space. Cronos is expected to grow YOY sales by nearly 450% in 2019.
GW Pharmaceuticals is a British biopharmaceutical company with portfolio of cannabinoid medicines including Sativex for the treatment of spasticity related to multiple sclerosis and cancer pain, and Epidiolex for the treatment of childhood epilepsy. Sativex is commercialized in more than a dozen countries outside the U.S. and has received regulatory approval in several more countries. Epidiolex received FDA approval as a treatment for Dravet Syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, two forms of severe, early onset epilepsy without good existing treatment options.
While shares of GWPH are up over 50% YTD, the stock has experienced a significant amount of volatility alongside its peers in the cannabis industry. The stock has underperformed the broader market in the recent three months, down 2.5% compared to the S&P 500’s 0.6% loss.
Alongside GW’s two FDA approved drugs, the firm is also developing cannabinoid products for autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia and glioma. The firm indicates that its proprietary platform for extracting and processing compounds from marijuana gives it an advantage over peers in the development of treatments with various therapeutic uses. However, headwinds include rival products from companies including Zogenix, which could prove GW’s success short-lived. Sales are expected to surge by more than 900% in fiscal 2019.
San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals is a biotech company involved in the manufacturing of medical marijuana drugs. Research and development around Arena's APD371, an oral Crohn’s disease pain drug, is the primary focus of its cannabis biotech initiatives. Its primary goal is to replace opioids, which are highly addictive and a leading cause of death due to overdose. Unlike GW Pharmaceuticals, Arena devotes only part of its drug pipeline to cannabinoid-type therapeutics and CB agonists, while the other portion is comprised of non-cannabinoid medicines. The company has multiple drugs in clinical trials but only one on the marketplace via a royalty arrangement, potentially making it a more speculative investment.
Shares of Arena are up over 25% YTD, representing a 22.1% gain over 12 months and a more than 170% return from its IPO in early 2016. In 2012, the FDA approved Belviq (lorcaserin), a weigh loss medication, which it later sold to its Japanese partner for royalties on global sales.
The company’s sales and stock growth will rely heavily on the future of its efforts to market drugs which treat conditions such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), various immune and inflammatory conditions, and Crohn’s disease.
While many market watchers remain wary of cannabis companies' high-flying valuations, the opportunity for growth in the burgeoning sector may justify the lofty valuations. According to a recent report from the Bank of Montreal, in a blue-sky scenario in which the U.S. and all 28 countries in the E.U. legalize both recreational and medical marijuana use, and Latin America legalized medical use, the global market could reach $194 billion by 2025. Comparatively, the Canadian medical and recreational markets are slated to generate just $5.9 billion. As the Canadian recreational market just picks up momentum, and global medical marijuana remains in its early stages, the U.S. legalization of hemp and potential to clear CBD regulations also opens up the door to new opportunities for Canadian producers. Ultimately, cannabis stocks could serve as a solid long-term play on a high-growth industry – for investors who can stomach the volatility.